The discussion below is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The invention firstly relates to a method for connecting two objects, comprising a step of applying to at least one of said objects a volume of an adhesive of the type which, when cured, is flexible and thereafter a step of bringing the other of said objects in contact with said volume of adhesive.
When the above method is used for connecting two objects which experience thermal expansions which strongly differ, the completed volume of adhesive should provide sufficient flexibility to compensate for this difference in thermal expansion. This problem, for example, may arise when a steel object is connected to a plastic object, as may be the case in an open roof construction for a vehicle in which profiled reinforcement members of steel are connected with a plastic panel. When the volume of adhesive is not capable of coping with the different thermal expansions the constitutive parts of such a connection will be subjected to high stresses and will distort in an unacceptable manner.
The most effective way to ensure that the volume of adhesive has sufficient flexibility is by increasing the height thereof. However, such an increased height leads to certain problems during the manufacture of said volume of adhesive. During its application the adhesive tends to flow out on the respective object because it is not yet cured. This means that it is very difficult or even impossible to create a volume of adhesive with sufficient height. And even if the consistency of the adhesive allows to create a volume thereof with sufficient height, such a volume tends to be very unstable. When, for example, the volume is manufactured using an injection molding nozzle, moving away the nozzle from a deposited volume of adhesive tends to damage this volume (or make it unstable) due to the fact that part of the deposited adhesive still sticks to the nozzle.